Kirk Sutherland

Kirk Sutherland is the older brother of Maria Connor, husband of Beth and step-father of Craig Tinker.

Kirk was already a familiar face in Coronation Street through Maria by the time he became Les Battersby's lodger in 2002. He was left to run the household in 2007 when Les and wife Cilla flitted and house-shared with his ex-girlfriend Fiz Brown and brother Chesney for a while until Maria took him in at the salon flat.

Dense but with a good heart, Kirk has been pushed around a lot, especially by women. In 2007, Fiz answered his proposal by dumping him, while Julie Carp never took his ambitions seriously. Work-wise, he climbed the ladder at Sutherland's Kennels until 2005 when his parents retired to Cyprus and turned the business over to him. Two years later, Kirk accidentally allowed a pedigree dog to be castrated, which collapsed the business. A stint at Elliott & Son butchers was followed by two years on the dole until Kirk finally got a lucky break when he was taken on at Underworld as a driver and packer, a position in which he has remained ever since.

In 2012, Kirk's colleague Beth Tinker started to see him in a new light after he took a punch for her from a man she'd met online during a date gone wrong. An 1980s-themed wedding followed in 2015. The following year, Kirk discovered that Beth was still legally married to her son Craig's dad, Darryl Parkins, but in time he was able to forgive her for the betrayal. They currently live at 18a Victoria Street.

Biography
Kirk first appeared in May 2000 when he was seen with his younger sister Maria Sutherland by a jealous Tyrone Dobbs. She explained the mix-up when they next met. Kirk was next seen in October 2000 at the engagement party of Tyrone and Maria. After his arrival on the Street he quickly became friends with Les Battersby-Brown, with whom he later lived, acting as best man at his wedding to Cilla Brown. In December 2003, Kirk dumped Fiz Brown after he found out that she had spent the night at her ex-boyfriend Tyrone Dobbs' house.

In January 2005, Kirk met Thelma Clegg, who hired him to shampoo her poodle. She was so impressed that she asked him to call round to her house regularly. Fiz was suspicious and followed Kirk to Thelma’s house where she could see Kirk being entertained by Thelma belly-dancing in her living room. Kirk professed his innocence and said Thelma wouldn’t let him out of the house.

In May 2007, Kirk lost his job at Sutherland's Kennels when he accidentally allowed a pedigree dog to be castrated, an act which single-handedly collapsed the business. Within a week he proposed to his girlfriend, Fiz. She dumped him immediately, and told him that she no longer wanted to be with him. She left Kirk to be with her first lover, John Stape, leaving Kirk feeling broken and humiliated. Later that month, Kirk and Jamie Baldwin rescued Claire Peacock, Kirk's next door neighbour, from her burning house. As a reward, Claire's husband, Ashley gave Kirk a job at his butchers shop.

After Fiz's mother, Cilla, left Weatherfield for Las Vegas on 12th October 2007, Kirk was left to look after her son, Chesney. Kirk failed to provide adequate care for Chesney, and he was subsequently taken into foster care. When Fiz returned from a holiday she went on, she was furious but forgave Kirk. She managed to get Chesney home but she had to move in with them, making Kirk believe she still had feelings for him.

In April 2008, Kirk left to visit his parents in Cyprus for a several weeks. In the days leading up to his return, Fiz dreaded him coming home, while she was providing a home for Chesney. On his return, he broke the news that he had a new girlfriend called Julie Carp, who he fell in love with in Cyprus. Fiz took a dislike to Julie, who moved in with them at No.5.

In 2012, Kirk offered to drive Beth Tinker to a date with a man named Dave. However, the date went wrong, and Kirk ended up getting punched when he called Dave an idiot. Kirk and Beth eventually became closer, and got married in January 2015.

In September 2017, local team Weatherfield County FC announced they would be looking for someone to be their new Buzzer the Bee mascot. Tim Metcalfe applied for the job but it was Kirk who got picked.

Hobbies and interests
It was established in December 2015 that Kirk was a good ping-pong player and he had several trophies.

Background information

 * Before Andrew Whyment debuted in the role in October 2000, the character had appeared briefly several months earlier in a long-shot played by an unknown walk-on actor. In the following episode the man was revealed as Maria's brother, although was identified as "Mark" at the time rather than Kirk.
 * Mr Whyment quit the role in 2003 to work on a new Carry on movie entitled Carry on London. However due to script problems with the film and the rumour it would do poorly, Whyment pulled out and was offered a return to Coronation Street (the film would never see a release, due to constantly changing production and cast over the next several years before finally being cancelled in 2009).
 * The character featured in the online spin-off entitled What Would Kirk Do?. The first of five episodes was made available on the ITV website from 12th December, 2014.

First and last lines
"Hey, I bet you were heartbroken when some prat put that cladding up." (First line, to Jack and Vera Duckworth).